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The Inevitable Post

I’ve gathered you all here today to discuss something very serious and close to my heart.

It’s taken me a long time to pull myself together to even write this.

I’ve had to search the depths of my soul and come to terms with a dark shade of magic in order to produce something legible.

But don’t worry…

I was BOURNE ready.

If you’ve ever talked to me or even made eye contact with me, you probably know I LOVE Jason Bourne like peanut butter loves chocolate.

IT IS JUST THE BEST, OKAY?!?!?! If ever there was a Bourne fangirl, I am the image of that fangirl. I’m like the Beleiber of the Jason Bourne world.

But enough with the flailing and bad analogies.

We all know that Jason Bourne came out on July 29, 2016.

It was kind of a big deal.

For me, anyway.

For my dad’s birthday we went and saw this movie and I may or may not have had a mental breakdown. I even posted an embarrassing picture on Twitter.

Just an FYI (I suppose I should’ve mentioned this earlier), this post is going to include spoilers from the the last three movies. SPOILER FREE OF THE CURRENT ONE. If you haven’t seen the previous movies, what are you even still doing here?

First of all, we aren’t friends until you watch them. Second, why haven’t you watched them? Third, you need to go watch them. Right now. Then come back and we’ll talk.

So there I was; having random spasms of flailing weeks before, bursts of horrible dance moves squealing about said Jason Bourne, and sly grins to myself whenever I thought of that very first scene in Bourne Identity where he goes total beast mode on those police officers in the park.

It got to the point of insanity.

And then the day came.

I was like:

And my family was like:

So yeah.

That happened.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited/nervous EVER.

I went into the theater.

I sat down and then THERE IT WAS.

THE THEME MUSIC PLAYED AND I DIED (but managed to still hang on to life for the rest of the movie, have no fear.)

I remember just placing a hand on my brother’s arm and he gently patted it because he knew I was having heart failure.

I sat in total silence, watching the beauty unfold for the rest of the 2 hours and 3 minutes.

In case you were wondering, I didn’t disrupt the entire theater. I was, in fact, respectful. (except in that part during the last fight scene where Jason and the other guy are just waiting for each other to be choked out. No one else was laughing, apparently.)

But let’s talk about the movie itself.

As much as I adore the franchise and Jason and the brilliant fight scenes, Jason Bourne just didn’t live up to my expectations.

THERE, I SAID IT.

Before I dive into the recent movie, let’s take a look at the other three.

The Bourne Identity was nothing short of brilliant. We had a personal storyline and a connection to Jason. We felt bad for him because he didn’t know who (or what) he was. He was scared of himself in a way. We also got to see him interact with the men on the boat, who took care of him, before we saw him in ruthless action. We see his kindness and sweet/awkward character when he meets Marie. By this point, we love Jason as a character. All the while, the plot is churning in the background. It’s confusing and enticing and thrilling all at the same time. It makes sense as a storyline, not just blind action. It carries a purpose that we care about.

In The Bourne Supremacy, we see Jason struggling with his past while trying to heal. He’s still trying to figure out his past with the help of Marie. Then, of course, tragedy strikes, and Marie is killed.

And for me, that’s when Jason’s character development stops. Instead of going rogue and brutal after her death, or wrestling with horrible guilt, he shuts off.

He becomes stagnant.

Through the rest of the movie and Bourne Ultimatum, the movie doesn’t center around Jason. The focus shifts to the CIA and their attempts to kill him.

There was the last scene in Supremacy where Jason goes and apologized to the man’s daughter and we have a deep, personal moment with his character. But after that, it seems to end. He doesn’t seem to find any comfort or healing in that meeting.

Eventually we find out more about his past, but it just doesn’t seem as compelling or interesting for some reason. Perhaps because Jason isn’t as vibrant of a character anymore.

With that said, I give Ultimatum props for adding Nicky Parsons as a larger role. It gave us a teeny tiny glimpse of the Jason we loved from Bourne Identity. (It also showed that a woman can be in a movie without being the main love interest so YAY FOR THAT)

But then.

We come to Jason Bourne.

The movie we’ve waited for FOREVER.

Before seeing it, I told my family, “As long as Jason smiles at least once I’ll be happy.”

I mean, just look at him.

So sweet.

Anyway, let’s just say I didn’t get that golden smile.

Not from Jason..or from anyone in the entire movie.

Everyone was flat.

There wasn’t any humor (despite the various bouts of violence that just delighted me so much I couldn’t help but giggle).

There wasn’t any character development.

If I had gone into this movie without having the ties I did with Jason from the previous movies, I honestly wouldn’t have cared that much about him. None of the character had any vibrance.

And I think that’s the problem.

There was no sparkle.

It was just stagnant.

I’m not giving any spoilers, BUT I will say that we had a potential for a storyline that would bring out Jason a little more. But that didn’t exactly work out so Jason is isolated. Again. Poor guy. *sigh*

WITH THAT SAID I STILL LIKED IT.

It just fell short.

BUT IT WAS STILL BEAUTIFUL AND STABBY AND CAR-CHASEY.

There was a lot of brilliant plot and we get to see more into Jason’s past. Even so, in the end there still isn’t much resolve.

BUT I still swooned a lot throughout the movie because I kind of have a thing for people getting punched in the face. Needless to say, I was happy.

So, there you have it. The post we all knew was coming eventually. This was also SUUUUPER long and if you’ve made it this far you get the Jason Bourne Award.

Have you seen the new movie? What were your thoughts? Seriously, I’d LOVE to be wrong about all of this, so really…give me your honest opinion. ^_^

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4 thoughts on “The Inevitable Post”

Wow, Wendy! You put your finger right on the reason why I loved IDENTITY, enjoyed SUPREMACY, was faintly disappointed by ULTIMATUM, and really enjoyed LEGACY. Even though that last one has different characters, they were so endearing – as endearing as Bourne was in IDENTITY. I think you’re right on the money with your comment about Bourne stagnating as a character.

I didn’t expect the new movie to be much more than a glorified retread of ULTIMATUM, so seems like I was right.

YES! Legacy was SO SO good!! Even though I didn’t mention it, I totally agree. It was rooted in a storyline we cared about because it centered around the characters. Sadly, you were totally right with the new movie, but I would totally still recommend it!!! 😄

I just discovered you through Hannah Heath and when I saw Bourne’s picture on this post, I couldn’t stop reading. I think you have done a wonderful job pointing out the flaws in the new movie. Character development is so much more difficult to accomplish than action and suspense, and in a series it is especially difficult, but I am hoping they are just warming up to the task and the next one will surprise us. ~Jane Blake

Aww! I’m so glad you found me! 😄 Yeeees, well said!! Obviously, it pained me a lot to write about my disappointment but I still hope they’ll revive it! I *so* hope there’s going to be another one!!! Thank you 😊